Restore plc, listed on AIM, stores and scans documents, shreds paper, sends NHS appointment letters and recycles IT equipment for UK businesses and public bodies. After a profit slump in 2023, new management cut costs, bought a dozen small businesses and sold a weak one. Adjusted operating margin passed its 20% target in 2025, but reported statutory profit is far below adjusted profit because of acquisition-related charges.
Boxes, shredders and NHS letters
Restore describes itself as the UK's leading provider of secure and sustainable business services for data, information, communications and assets. It has three divisions. Information Management is by far the largest, with £134m of the Group's £175m half-year revenue.
Information Management stores paper records in warehouses and charges rent per box. Storage prices move with inflation and box numbers are broadly stable. The division also scans documents, runs digital mailrooms for government departments such as the Department for Work & Pensions and HMRC, and, through Synertec, sends post, emails and texts, mainly for the NHS.
Datashred collects and shreds confidential paper and sells the pulp to paper mills, so its profit depends on the paper price. Technology recycles and resells used IT equipment and wipes hard drives, partly as a subcontractor to IT resellers. 28 Jul 2026 12 Mar 2026 29 Jul 2025
2023: revenue held, profit fell
In 2023 revenue was flat at £277m, but adjusted profit before tax fell 26% to £30.3m. The company named weak trading in Technology, Digital (scanning) and Datashred, and higher interest costs. It also cited inflation, especially in labour costs. The statutory result was a £29.0m loss and the dividend was cut from 7.4p to 5.2p.
A new Chair, CEO and CFO arrived in the second half. Charles Skinner returned as CEO, Dan Baker became CFO in November 2023 and Jamie Hopkins became Chair. The new team cut head office functions and gave the businesses more autonomy. On 14 March 2024 it first stated a medium-term target of an adjusted operating margin of no less than 20%, against 16% in 2023. 14 Mar 2024 30 Oct 2023 16 Nov 2023 13 Mar 2025
2024: repairing margins from the inside
Scanning was merged into the document-storage business. Annualised savings reached more than £5m, against the £3m first planned. A property programme is moving about four million boxes out of 20 older warehouses into five new ones, which has kept the cost of storing a box flat despite rising rents and rates. Datashred hedged part of its paper price and Technology was refocused on better customers.
Revenue stayed flat in 2024 but adjusted operating margin rose to 17.7%. In November 2024 the company warned of about £3m of annual extra cost from higher employer National Insurance and minimum wage from April 2025. It said it expected to offset this with margin actions and price rises. The DWP digital mailroom contract, worth over £70m across six years, started coming on-stream in 2025. 13 Mar 2025 29 Jul 2025 21 Nov 2024 31 Jul 2024 28 Jul 2026
2025: buying growth, selling Harrow Green
Restore went back to acquisitions, completing seven in 2025. The largest was Synertec in March 2025, for £22m cash initially plus deferred payments. Synertec had about £70m of revenue, over half of it postage passed on to customers. Restore therefore began excluding postage when it calculates margin. The other deals were small shredding and storage firms, including Shred-on-Site for £7.9m.
In December 2025 it sold Harrow Green, its commercial relocation business, for £5.5m cash. Harrow Green's profit had fallen to about £0.3m. The sale produced a £7.7m loss from discontinued operations and lifted Group margin. Net debt rose from £89m to £124m over 2025, with leverage of 1.9x, inside the 1.5x-2.0x target range.
Adjusted operating margin reached 20.8%, and Restore said the Harrow Green sale helped this structurally. Statutory profit before tax was £7.7m against adjusted £40.6m. The gap comes mainly from Synertec's earn-out, which is booked as pay over the earn-out period, plus amortisation and property costs. 13 Mar 2025 13 May 2025 29 Jul 2025 9 Dec 2025 12 Mar 2026
What explains the record
The 2023 slump came from cyclical and cost problems in the smaller businesses (scanning projects, IT resale, paper prices), not from the storage core. Storage revenue kept rising with inflation throughout. The recovery rests on cost cuts, price rises and consolidation, with acquisitions adding revenue from 2025.
Two weak spots remain. Datashred's profit is still hostage to paper prices: the 2025 aim of a margin 'towards 15%' compares with 10.6% in H1 2026. Statutory earnings remain far below adjusted earnings. 14 Mar 2024 13 Mar 2025 28 Jul 2026 12 Mar 2026
The same team, now handing over
The 2023 team set a margin target and met it. It cut overheads, hedged paper sales, restructured scanning and bought businesses in sectors it already operates in. It also began returning cash: a £20m buyback launched on 16 March 2026 in two £10m tranches, to end no later than 31 March 2027. The Chair, CEO and one other director bought shares in December 2025.
On 28 July 2026 the company announced that from 1 January 2027 CFO Dan Baker becomes CEO and Charles Skinner becomes Non-Executive Chair. A search for a new CFO is under way. Susan Davy, Senior Independent Director and Audit Committee Chair, left the board in May 2026 to join a private recycling business. Harwood Capital's holding rose from 12.1% to 15.1% between December 2025 and April 2026, while Octopus Investments' fell to 9.0%. 28 Jul 2026 16 Mar 2026 9 Apr 2026 10 Dec 2025 19 Dec 2025 9 Dec 2025 8 Apr 2026 23 Apr 2026 9 Mar 2026 14 Sep 2026
Half-year 2026: growth, with paper still weak
In the half to June 2026, revenue rose 21% to £175m, split about equally between acquisitions and organic growth. Adjusted operating margin was 20.1% and adjusted EPS 12.4p. Technology's profit doubled to £2.4m, with margin at 11.6%. Datashred's profit was flat at £2.2m because the paper price averaged £145 a tonne against £186 a year earlier. About 70% of its output is hedged.
Net debt was £122.5m and leverage 1.7x, after four bolt-on acquisitions for £6.0m and £4.6m of buybacks. Free cash flow was £21.3m, with cash conversion of 95%. Statutory profit before tax was £7.4m against adjusted £22.3m. The interim dividend rose 18% to 2.6p.
The shares ended October 2023 at 192.5p. The latest close, on 9 October 2026, was 308p. 28 Jul 2026 12 Mar 2026 16 Mar 2026
At least in line, margin of 20% to hold
In March 2026 the Board expected full-year adjusted profit before tax slightly ahead of consensus of £46.6m. In May it said in line, and on 28 July 2026 it said at least in line. Company-compiled consensus is now £47.2m, in a range of £44.9m to £48.2m.
The 20% margin is now a floor rather than a target to reach. Management says growth in Digital Services, Outbound Communications and Technology should exceed physical storage and shredding in the medium term. The Technology margin target of 15%, stated in November 2024, is still ahead, at 11.6%. Property consolidation is due to finish in H1 2027, and the company says it has a pipeline of acquisitions.
Open questions are the paper price, the integration of the CEO and CFO changes, and how long NHS-driven Outbound Communications keeps growing. 28 Jul 2026 12 Mar 2026 12 May 2026 21 Nov 2024 9 Dec 2025
“This gives me real confidence in our ability to sustain adjusted operating margins above 20% for the foreseeable future.” 12 Mar 2026
Written by AI from Restore's own announcements since Oct 2023 · every paragraph links to its sources